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| Europe |
| Malmö blacklisted over Israel Davis Cup tennis shutout |
| 2009-04-03 |
| Malmö has been banned from hosting Davis Cup tennis matches for five years following the city's controversial decision to stage Sweden's clash with Israel in an empty arena. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Thursday they condemned the decision by the city government of Malmo to refuse to allow spectators to attend the March 6-9 tie which was won by Israel. Malmo only allowed teams, officials, guests and media to watch the tie, fearful of demonstrations taking place over Israel's bloody December offensive in Gaza. As well as a five-year ban, Sweden was warned it would suffer an automatic loss of choice of ground for the next tie were a similar situation to occur in the future. Furthermore, all host city contracts entered into by the Swedish Tennis Association must guarantee that the tie will be open to the public. The Davis Cup Committee also denied the request of the Swedish Tennis Association to waive its obligation to provide a minimum of $15,000 against gate receipts and levied an additional fine of $25,000. That's a start. At the link: nice pic taken during one of the matches. |
| Posted by:mrp |